Chiverre

I'm due for a new post. It's almost Semana Santa here -- which means vacations, hot days, beach trips, plays and parades in every neighborhood, and food. The store aisles are filled with fish. And chiverre. Yes, that's right, chiverre. It is a large squash type thing that I have only seen here. And it is always eaten during Semana Santa and really never seen again until the following year. I have made "miel de chiverre" in the past. (literally means chiverre honey, but it's really more like a thick preserves) But this year I tried something new. Chiverre cristalizado. I think we would say candied chiverre. Explanations and pictures to come soon. (I can tell you're on the edge of your seats!!)

Here's a sneak preview of what awaits:

(cast of characters: pickling lime, chiverre strips, fig leaves, cloves, cinnamon, and lots and lots of sugar.)

Embarrassing teaching moment

Ahhhh....yes, the moment all teachers dread..... the embarrassing "I can't believe I just said that" feeling. I had another one today. I was passing out certificates for perfect attendance and the entire school K-12 was present. Since clapping for each person was taking awhile, I wanted to have everyone wait and give their applause at the end. So I paused and spoke into the microphone in my loud authoratative teacher voice and said, "Can everyone please wait to crap until the end of the list." Yes, I said crap. Of course, I meant clap. The sweet little grade schoolers didn't catch on. I could hug them all. But don't for a second think my little slip was missed by any of my high school students or fellow teachers. I couldn't go on for like 15 seconds I was laughing so hard. I finally recovered. But I think I'm going to be hearing about his one for awhile. Ughhh.

Let's remember some better teaching moments in today's photos. I don't think I ever posted photos of "Character Day" on my blog. Here are Jasmine and Annie Oakley (aka Miss Wegman and Mrs. King) And yes, you can be sure that Miss W gave a loud chortle that could be heard above the crowd as I made my little speaking error this morning, leaving no doubt in my mind as to what was actually heard in the audience!

Ten on . . .

OK, so in blog world, "Ten on Tuesday" lists are popular right now. The idea is that every Tuesday the blogger posts a list of ten random thoughts/ideas/stories/happenings in their life on that day. But alas, I am way too busy and unorganized to remember to do this every Tuesday. So my list is just a "Ten on. . . ." whatever random day I get around to posting it. Doesn't do much for the alliteration idea, but at least I'm posting! :o)

1) We've had really wacky weather here lately. A couple of days last week were so hot that teachers and students alike were crawling the walls. But then we had a couple of cloudy, chilly, had-to-pull-out-the-sweater type of rainy days. Weird. Will have to dress in layers this week since I can never tell at 5:30 am if it will be a hot day or a cold day!!

2) I have been bothered a lot the last week by a nagging head-ache and stiff neck that won't go away. I've obviously pulled or pinched something. Yuck. Think I'll go to the doctor Monday and see if an expert can do anything to help!

3) Zach and Austin are busy three days a week after school (and lots of evenings at home) getting ready for the school play. It's called "Reserve Two for Murder" and is a murder mystery comedy. Sounds fun!! Last night they had a coffee house to raise money for the play, and it was fun to see them all perform their poems. I helped serve desserts and coffee and it was great to see so many parents and families come out to support the kids!!

4) I had so much fun getting some cards ready for a card swap I was in this month. In the past, swaps have usually been 8-10 people. But this was just a one-time swap, and we had 19 people involved!! That meant I needed to make 20 of the same card and mail it out to dear Katy who is hosting. But the good news is I will get 19 wonderful handmade cards back in the mail!! It's always so fun to see what people come up with!! (Below were a few I tried out looking for an easy but cute way to make 20 cards. I won't say which one I chose-- that way there still a little surprise for my friends!!)

(all patterned paper is October Afternoon Farm Fresh line --from my Jan SR kit --see #5. Plus the cherries which are October Afternoon Cherry Hill leftover from an August kit!!)

5) I used some of my fun stash from the super fun ScrapRoom online kit club to make my cards. The owner Tammy was a college friend of mine. Our lives overlapped in so many fun ways (both from little towns in IL, both ended up at the same small college in MO, both worked at the same office after graduation, both ended up expecting our first baby at the same time --and thus both resigned from above office around the same time!!, etc. etc. ). But over time and living overseas, I'd kind of lost touch. Imagine how fun it was to reconnect and find out that she owns a monthly scrapbook kit club. And I love it. Every month you get four layout kits in your monthly kit. Each kit has several sheets of co-ordinated paper, matching cardstock, and some type of embellishment. I LOVE it because I get to try and sample so many of the cute and popular lines that are available now. It was hard enough living in CR. But then, my favorite hometown scrap store closed. :o( And then the one close to my Mom that I also loved closed. So it made it really hard to see the latest stuff. But now it arrives at my mailbox!! Four unique lines and styles each month. Yipee!! So that is fun and easy. Love it.

6) Had an earthquake here about 11pm on Friday. Scarier then normal due to all the bad earthquakes all around the world lately. It was only a 4.4, but the epicenter was right beneath us here in our city. So it felt stronger than the 6+ we had last year whose epicenter was further away. Yuck!

7) I am trying to rapidly finish this post because I smell chocolate from the cookies Chloe is baking downstairs. And I know I have cold diet Coke in the fridge. And somehow a cold diet Coke and a warm chocolate cookie sound much better to me than typing on my blog right now!!

8) My Grandma just turned 92!! My Mom hosted a birthday party for her yesterday. Wish I could have been there!! I flew home for her 90th. But just sent my greetings out over cyberspace yesterday!

9) It's almost Semana Santa here. During Holy Week the whole city shuts down and everyone takes a week off. I'm hoping to see a few sights like this:

or maybe this:
but we'll have to wait and see how the time and money work out. . .

10)I'm super proud of these next two photos: The first because both Zach, my oldest, and Darrin, my hubby, play in the praise band at our church. I love to see them singing and serving.
And this second one I love because there are so many people serving. Our church is new and it is always wonderful to see new Christians get involved in serving and giving back. The Sunday in this picture, we had the different people that served on the different ministry teams on our church come forward to be recognized. How wonderful to see so many different faces--young and old-- men and women--serving together. Yeah!!

Well, this last picture doesn't get a number because I used up 10 things already. This is just a bonus, I guess. Last week we had "formal day" for a dress-up day at school. Miss W and I are the student council sponsors and so we always do our best to join in the fun on dress-up days. Here we are once again. (ps-- I really love that gal--she's been such a blessing to our school and to me!!)

Have a great week!!!